City News

NO DATING! 

Isabel's only rule in life is to not date. She has never had trouble with the rule until one day she meets a boy that will test and challenge her decisions to the max. 

You may be wondering what led up to her making this her only rule in life? Well in Hannah Moskowitz bracing novel Sick Kids Love, Isabel Garfinkel was born with Rheumatoid Arthritis and it wasn't much of a problem until she entered her teen years and started attending highschool. Growing up in a populous city of New York, she was regularly surrounded by her friends. They were aware of her disease but weren’t able to fully grasp and understand how it is to live with such an illness because of the simple fact that they don’t live with an illness.

As Isabel receives her treatment in the “drip room”, her attention shifts to a charismatic-looking boy she has not once seen in the hospital even with her great number of appearances in the hospital. A conversation sparks and Isbael finds out the boy's name is Sasha Sverdlov-Deckler, that they’re the same age, and he has a chronic illness she's never heard of, Gaucher's disease. Isabel has fallen. The quirky personality, amazing looks, and common understanding of how it is to live with an illness that has affected your life in some way, really attracted Isabel to this boy.

Hanna Moskowitz writes an incredibly refreshing novel as if you  are gulping down a sweet iced tea on a hot summer day. She writes the novel in a way where the readers are able to see the thought process of both the main characters. As you go on with the novel you become the best friend of both the love birds. I mean how amazing is that! You don’t have to sit in the dark and wonder if Sasha likes Isabel back. I guess you can say it’s like getting early access to the new shoes that came out the night before or possibly even better. So While Isabel sits in her room wondering if Sasha feels the same way as she does, we already know what Sasha’s answer to that is from the way he describes and talks about Isabel. 

Not only does Hannah provide the audience an upper hand in the relationship, her creative writing allows us to follow along and genuinely experience the introspection both Isabel and Sasha  went  through as they trutched  through their high school years. For example, after every chapter, the author incorporates Isabel's column from her highschools newspaper. And on it, it consists of a few answers from the people Isabel interviewed. Isabel would ask questions such as “What’s your favorite subway line?” or “Why are you the way you are?”  As you can see the questions she asked ranged from more of a deeper question to an entertaining one and in every column Sasha’s answers were included. This way you are able to see more of Sasha's personality in a distinct way rather than the original style authors tend to take while writing about a key character. For example when Sasha was asked “How do you figure out your priorities?”His response was “Eesh, Didn’t you used to ask, like, fun, sexy questions? Isn’t that why you had to be single? This is…gah. Figuring out priorities? I’m not old enough for this. Hahaha don’t we just all relate to Sasha. But anyways from the response he gave us, we are able to have a thought of our own about Sasha and imagine what kind of person he is based on the way Sasha thinks and talks. Since the author wrote this way, this allows us, the readers, to have a mind of our own and figure out what kind of person Sasha is and I find that to be more engaging and free. 

Also, not only does Sasha answer the questions, you’ll also be questioning yourself about “What is your idea of a perfect date?” This will, at one point, make you talk to yourself because I definitely did. I even answered the question as I was one of the main characters. Speaking of feeling like a character, that is another point I want to mention about Hannah's writings. Her work is spectacularly written in a way where you feel very engaged and like a main character. And once again I’m going to use Isabel’s column as an example of a creative way for the author to allow the audience to be engaged as if you were a character. So When Isabel asked “Are you where you are supposed to be?”, it’s like she is asking the question directly to you. That is a creative skill not a lot of writers have. So...

I suggest you take a dose of this obsessive drug Hannah Moskowtiz has put together. Oh man you will be talking to yourself. You may get some weird looks so just keep it down. The main side effects will be heartwarming moments and an excessive amount of smiles. So embrace and enjoy every moment of it. 

Check out Sick Kids in Love from the Newport Beach Public Library.